By Danielle Ellis

Although we often quote the phrase “endure to the end,” do we realize, or internalize, what “the end” means for us, especially while we are “enduring” trials? Enduring to the end means the end of the trial; the end of the trail; the end of our lives; until our eternal reward. It might make our point clearer to say we must endure to the very, very end.
The story of finding Nephi’s land of Bountiful at the end of the trail from Jerusalem proves quite instructive here, as related in Meridian Magazine:

“Eighty miles south of Salalah in a land nearly unrelieved by vegetation or people, the paved road began to wind tortuously around the dry, steep gorge that is Wadi Sayq. The wadi drops off the western plateau at about 4,000 feet and winds sixteen miles down a narrow path through limestone canyons to shore. From our vantage, at the beginning of the wadi’s descent, it was not evident that in a few miles the canyon would be lined with jungle, that the unrelenting brown would give way almost instantly, at the turn of a corner, to emerald forests.

“If this was the way Nephi and his family came, it would have been like this. They would have had no indication, as they began to wind through a canyon, that the sea was so close, that within miles the thirsty, folded land would be blanketed in green only two miles from shore. We saw a type here. We are told to “endure to the end,” to bear with patience our tribulations, yet the end does not always announce itself. Sometimes when we feel we can be brave no longer, all that is required of us is just a little more.” (“Where Did Nephi Build The Ship?” Maurine & Scot Proctor, Meridianmagazine.com)

Nephi and his family were not the first of the Lord’s people who had to endure to the very, very end to be rewarded for their trials. When Abraham was commanded to sacrifice Isaac, he gathered his precious son and walked three days to Moriah. The Lord did not provide the ram in the thicket on the first day of the journey, or the second, or the third.

The ram was not presented when Abraham built the altar; when he arranged the wood on it; or when Isaac was laid and bound on the altar. Indeed, “Abraham stretched forth his hand, and took the knife to slay his son” (Genesis 22: 10). Only when the knife was in the air, ready to take Isaac’s life, was the trial complete. Only at the very, very, end, did an angel of the Lord stop Abraham and commend him for his faith. Then “Abraham lifted up his eyes, and looked, and behold behind [the angel] a ram caught in a thicket by his horns” (v. 13).

There are times when the Lord needs to try His people. We have been told that we must be tried “even as Abraham” (D&C 101: 4). But what does that mean for us? Putting this scripture in full context helps:

“Verily I say unto you, concerning your brethren who have been afflicted, and persecuted, and cast out from the land of their inheritance—

“I, the Lord, have suffered the affliction to come upon them, wherewith they have been afflicted, in consequence of their transgressions;

“Yet I will own them, and they shall be mine in that day when I shall come to make up my jewels.

“Therefore, they must needs be chastened and tried, even as Abraham, who was commanded to offer up his only son.

“For all those who will not endure chastening, but deny me, cannot be sanctified.” (D&C 101: 1-5, emphasis added)

The Lord is making it clear that He may try any of us in asking us to give up that which is most precious in order to put Him first. He wants us to turn to Him in our trials and be refined in our knowledge that He will hear and answer our prayers. Imagine Abraham’s pleading heart during that three-day journey; and then imagine his relief when his prayers were answered. (Or, for contrast, imagine how different things would have been if Abraham had cursed the Lord for the commandment he was given!)

Nephi was also tried before the coming of the Savior. The persecution was so bad that the unbelievers had set a date on which they would kill the believers if the sign of the Savior’s birth had not come. Although the exact timing is not described, it sounds as though they were down to the wire as well. So Nephi spent all day in humble and mighty prayer unto the Lord for his people. His life, along with his family’s lives, and all of the believers, were in imminent danger.

At last, the “voice of the Lord came unto him, saying: Lift up your head and be of good cheer; for behold, the time is at hand, and on this night shall the sign be given, and on the morrow come I into the world” ( 3 Nephi 1: 12-13). Again, it took enduring to the very, very end in mighty prayer before Nephi knew his people would be saved and that the Lord’s coming was nigh.

Consider Moses and the Children of Israel, As they fled Egypt, they had the Red Sea in front of them and an army behind them. It made no sense to run toward the Red Sea, and many people complained that they had been led out of Israel to perish in the wilderness.
The sea didn’t rise into a giant wall of water when they were miles off. It didn’t move until the Israelites were camped at the shore for the night. They woke up to find the way prepared for their deliverance. Is it significant that the Lord was saving them while they slept? (See Exodus 14).

Is doubting the Lord’s deliverance how the “very elect” can fall? They wait faithfully, but fail to see that they must wait until the deliverance comes, which only happens at the very, very end of the trial. The Lord is not waiting for us to realize we have begun a trial:
He is waiting for us to turn our whole souls to Him, realizing that He alone is mighty to save; to conquer; and to deliver.

If you were in such a trial, would you stand firm? Would you stand in complete faith and wait for the arm of the Lord to be revealed? Is your faith that strong?

If President Monson asked the saints to do something that appeared to the natural man, or reason, or science, to be illogical at best, or certain death at worst, would you do it? Do you have the faith to endure to the very, very end, to receive the salvation of the Lord that always comes to the faithful, whether in this life or the next?

Our faith to endure to the very, very end shows the Lord what we are really made of. We have been placed on this earth at this time for a specific purpose. Will we prove worthy of the great confidence the Lord has placed in us? Will we endure to the very, very end, and lead those who look to us; for we know in Whom we have trusted?

If we are “terrible as an army with banners” in the face of the last-days foes, it will not be because we have faced our trials alone. It will be because we have burning testimonies of the blessings promised by the Lord to His faithful children who endure to the very, very end.